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Hubble telescope repair mission successful

HOUSTON: Shuttle Atlantis astronauts returned to the Hubble Space Telescope on Monday for a final spacewalk to install fresh batteries, thermal shields and a sensor to pinpoint celestial targets for research.

Lead spacewalker John Grunsfeld and partner Andrew Feustel left the shuttle’s air lock, almost an hour ahead of schedule.

“OK, Drew. Let’s go and be productive,” said Mr. Grunsfeld as they headed out toward Hubble. Their primary job is to replace three of Hubble’s batteries and one of its star-tracking sensors, which are used to aim the observatory at celestial targets.

The astronauts also hope to make up some work left over from Sunday’s spacewalk by crew mates Michael Massimino and Michael Good, who battled stuck bolts and equipment glitches in their attempt to revive one of Hubble’s dead science instruments.

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, known as STIS, was used to hunt for black holes and probe the gas and dust between galaxies before a power failure shut it down in 2004.

Tests of the instrument showed the repair was successful, said NASA spokesman Rob Navias. Mr. Grunsfeld and Mr. Feustel plan to replace the rest of Hubble’s batteries. Three of the six batteries were replaced on Thursday during the first spacewalk. Swapping the remaining three will complete NASA’s primary goals for the mission, the fifth and final servicing call to Hubble before the shuttle fleet is retired next year. — AP

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